School Bus Snow Routes

Staff Notifications

District and school leadership will communicate to staff with mass email notification or via phone as part of an established building calling tree.

School Closure Decision Process

The process for deciding whether to close schools and evening activities because of inclement weather is based upon our first priority—student safety.

We want to make certain that our buses, as well as parent and student drivers, can get to schools over roads that are clear enough to allow safe arrival.

The county and city road crews do a great job helping with this, but often other factors come into play. The timing of the snow arrival, how quickly it falls, the temperature and the rural areas of our school district sometimes can make it impossible to get all of the roads clear in time for school.

Sometimes the decision to close schools is very clear, other days, the decision is not so easy. On rare occasions, we start school two hours late if we think that the temperatures will warm, and the roads will clear up in time to have school for most of the day.

We want students in schools for instruction and are mindful of the inconvenience that working parents must manage when we are closed.

Night Before:
Monitor weather reports and national weather services.
3:00 a.m.: District representatives drive district streets to determine if school buses can safely travel on the most difficult hills and roads.
They analyze the situation by answering the following questions:

Can buses get up the steepest hills?

Does the weather forecast call for more snow, or rising/falling temperatures?

If we bring students to school, will the school have to be closed before the end of the instructional day? (It is not desirable to bring students to school and then have to close early, because we don’t know if we can get them home safely and if there will be a parent or adult at home when they arrive.)

What is happening in other districts?

Will the county and municipal public works departments be able to apply deicers and/or clear roads?

4:30 a.m.:
The Director of Operations and Superintendent confer and share information gathered and a final decision is determined. The phone tree is initiated to notify central office and school administrators

5:00-6:00 a.m.:
The decision is posted on the FlashAlert system between 5:00 a.m - 5:45 a.m., which is used to notify local media. Following this an email message will be sent to all families, district website will be updated, and a message will be posted on Facebook & Twitter. Updating all of these resources take time and will ideally be completed before 6:00a.m.

In the event of inclement weather conditions, decisions regarding specialized transportation will be based upon the school closure and delay decisions made by both the Oregon City School District and the district where a student is currently living, also known as the resident district.

For families residing outside Oregon City School District (OCSD) boundaries and whose students receive specialized transportation services, the following will apply:

If OCSD closes, no transportation will be provided.

If the resident district closes, no specialized transportation will be provided - even if OCSD remains open.

If the resident school district announces a two-hour delayed opening, specialized transportation will be provided on a two-hour delay if OCSD remains open or on a similar two-hour delay.

Finally, if OCSD announces a two-hour delayed opening, specialized transportation will be provided on a two-hour delay UNLESS the resident school district closes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sometimes when the district closes schools I look outside my house and see only a thin covering of snow on the ground; I could easily take my child to school, but it is closed. Why is my school closed when it doesn’t need to be?
School closure decisions are based on conditions throughout the district. We operate as a system, not as independent schools. Some staff members work at more than one school. Some areas of the district may have much more snow and school buses cannot be driven safely‐ i.e. Beavercreek or Redland areas.

Schools are open, but with the snow and/or ice on the road it isn’t safe to drive out of my neighborhood. What should I do?
We can’t make this decision for you or your family. You need to determine if it’s safe for you to drive your child to school.

What can cause the best-laid plans to fail?

Forecast of heavy snow coming during rush hour, but no snow on ground at 4 AM

Ice on streets at 4 AM, followed by warming and no ice by 8 am

No snow on the ground by 4 AM and snow arrives later in the morning or right before school starts